Outreach

The SLP, founded by Ray in 2013, aims to provide outstanding academic scientists with the skills, approaches, and frameworks for engaging more effectively with the media, decision makers, and the public throughout their careers.

CoolCosmos was an unconventional initiative—an approach described as "in-your-face outreach"—to pique people's curiosity about the cosmos they live in, to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. Its goal was to reach that vast majority of the population for whom the science of astronomy just does not enter daily life, and remind them about our cosmic connections. A pivotal piece of CoolCosmos was a campaign of 3,000 ads on the subway cars, streetcars, and buses in Toronto, thus reaching over a million people over a month. The transit ads pointed to the CoolCosmos.net website, which expands on the science behind them through podcasts and graphic-rich articles.